A new Network for Public Education report grades Florida an "F" for its public school funding.

As Florida lawmakers negotiate the state budget in the final days of the legislative session, the Public Schooling in America report has sparked concern among some educators and policymakers. The report says the Sunshine State struggles in key areas, including financial support for public schools, the impact of voucher and charter-school programs, and teacher-certification requirements.

Damaris Allen, executive director of Families for Strong Public Schools, has two children who graduated from the same public high school she attended 25 years earlier and has seen firsthand the lack of investment in public education.

"The opportunities I had versus the opportunities they had - you could see that we have opted to not invest in our public schools in the way our children deserve," she said. "I think the bright side of this report is that we have nowhere to go but up."

Lawmakers are working through next year's $28.4 billion Pre-K-12 public school budget. The House and Senate are negotiating differences over a teacher pay increase. The Senate is pitching $200.5 five million, while the House is proposing $1.3 million more.

According to the report, 74% of students attend public schools, down from 86% in 2000. The report ranks states based on various factors, including voucher and charter expansion, public school funding, and protections for home-schooled students.

Moira Kaleida, national coalition director for the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, said for-profit corporations manage more than 30% of charter schools in Florida.

"And so it's become a money-making scheme more than it has become an educational program," she said, "so when we see the focus on profits, we know the investments aren't on students."

The report highlights several findings, including the loss of rights for students with disabilities under voucher programs and the lack of certification requirements for teachers in many voucher-accepting schools. The report calls on stakeholders to consider the long-term consequences of education policies while emphasizing the crucial role of public schools in delivering high-quality, inclusive education to students.


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Virginia student loan borrowers will feel the effects of federal courts blocking more student loan forgiveness.

The Biden administration forgave around $3.5 billion of the state's student loan debt, but borrowers will not see reduced payments on July 1, due to court injunctions which could upend the SAVE program. Student loan debt creates burdens whether the borrowers earn their degree or not.

Kelsey Coweger, press secretary for the advocacy group Progress Virginia, said the debts have tanked homeownership rates for younger generations.

"One of the criteria that you're gauged on is how much debt you have and the ability to pay those debts back," Coweger explained. "There is a whole generation of people who are losing these really critical wealth-building apparatuses that have been available to older generations, that will make things harder for them in the long run."

The average Virginia borrower's debt is just under $40,000 but the state's total student loan debt is $43 billion. Cowger feels student loan forgiveness has been misunderstood. She noted people using the program are not the ones attending expensive private colleges or getting what some see as "worthless" degrees.

Some blame students' inability to budget as a reason student loan debt has grown. But Cowger pointed out systemic changes have played a role, like states not funding public schools and universities the same way they used to. Now, most of a college's budget comes from tuition.

She argued the federal government could take different steps to help students graduate in a better financial position.

"The government could expand its access to Pell grants," Cowger suggested. "The government could stop taking interest on the student loans that it provides. You know, I don't know that the government should be in the business of making money off the backs of students trying to get an education."

Cowger added a federal regulatory framework could be established so student loans are not predatory. She thinks states funding public colleges should be seen as an investment in an educated workforce, with loans which can and will be repaid. One-third of federal student loan borrowers defaulted on their debt in the last 20 years.


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New Mexico consistently ranks low in childhood educational achievement, but its path to a college degree is being recognized at the highest levels.

President Joe Biden has applauded New Mexico for leading the way in no-cost higher education, along with loan repayment and loan-for-service programs.

Stephanie Rodriguez, the state's secretary of higher education, said a recent "gold star" designation by the Campaign for Free College acknowledges the state's tuition-free Opportunity Scholarship program as one of the most accessible, inclusive and all-encompassing in the country.

"We know that when people are educated beyond high school they have higher wages, they can have family-sustaining careers and they can be successful in whatever endeavor they want to go into," Rodriguez pointed out.

She noted the state's Opportunity Scholarship, Lottery Scholarship, grants and other financial aid programs make it possible for nearly all New Mexicans to pursue higher education without having to worry about tuition and fees. In addition to recent high school graduates, the program is open to returning adult learners, part-time students and immigrants, regardless of their immigration status.

New Mexico is one of the nation's poorest states, with some of the country's lowest K-12 educational outcomes, but lawmakers have significantly increased educational funding in recent years and created the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department.

Rodriguez emphasized since the college scholarship program was introduced in 2022, enrollment has increased every semester.

"We're moving the levers in other areas so that New Mexicans can be successful," Rodriguez observed. "We may not see it right now, but in the future -- because of the investments, because of the policies we put in place -- you're going to see us move up in education overall."

The Lottery Scholarship continues to cover full tuition for around 10,000 students each year. Rodriguez added New Mexico had the second-best enrollment growth of any state last year and remains in the top five this year, with first-time enrollment up 10%.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

Workers who help Washington state classrooms run are calling for higher wages.

Known as classified staff, their jobs include administrative work, transportation and custodial services. Unions representing workers, including the American Federation of Teachers of Washington and Washington Education Association, have launched a wage campaign to increase pay for these workers.

Anitra Wise, a para-educator with the Tacoma School District, helps teachers in the classroom and said her wages simply aren't enough.

"We have to work two and three different jobs just to catch up with the cost of living, including housing, groceries and things that we need to survive," she said.

With Washington state school districts out for summer, classified staff members face another challenge: the suspension of their low wages.

Wise said she's working at summer school this year.

"We have to supplement that income somehow, and I really don't get a summer, because I have to work just to supplement my income," she continued.

Wise added classified staff have many important jobs, including the work she does as a para-educator in the classroom.

"We're the glue that keep it together, do all the small jobs and the big jobs, too. Because without the team of para-educators, the teachers would not be able to teach, and para-educators are teachers also," she said.